Relocate views folder

[eluser]rolandpish[/eluser]
Hello.
First, I will explain our scenario.
Our web design developers use the following directory structure:

Code:

index.php
view_1.php
view_2.php
view_n.php
includes--/
          /include_header.php
          /include_footer.php
          /include_news.php
css-------/
          /css_1.css
          /css_2.css
js--------/
          /js1.js
          /jquery.js

We are thinking on migrating our projects to CodeIgniter keeping the same directory structure and I have a couple of questions:

1. Is it possible to relocate views so they reside at the root of the site instead of application/views folder?

2. Let's say that view_1.php has <? include_once('includes/include_header.php'); ?> and <? include_once('includes/include_footer.php'); ?>. This allows our web design developers to view view_1.php entirely (with header and footer) in their IDE.
Is it possible to keep the "include_once" commands in order to let them still have this "entire view" or do we have to use $this->load->view('includes/include_header') instead?

Thanks in advance